Which states in the United States have the death penalty in effect?

Which states in the United States have the death penalty in effect?The 29 June 1972 Furman v. Georgia Supreme Court ruling placed a de facto moratorium on the death penalty in the United States.

by Garrin Lambley

08-02-2023 11:48

in Prison Journalism

The 29 June 1972 Furman v. Georgia Supreme Court ruling placed a de facto moratorium on the death penalty in the United States. Image: PEXELS

The 29 June 1972 Furman v. Georgia Supreme Court ruling placed a de facto moratorium on the death penalty in the United States.

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Many states amended their laws to comply with the mandates of the Furman decision and reinstate capital punishment after the 1972 ruling.

Of the 50 US states, 24 currently have the death penalty in place, while 23 have abolished it. The remaining three have a moratorium on the death penalty.

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Declaring a moratorium on capital punishment is a way for a state to block or suspend further executions of people sentenced to death, even while the death penalty remains in effect in the country's laws and death sentences are still being passed.

In effect, a moratorium on the death penalty refers to a delay in death penalty sentencing and pursuance of death penalty executions of those on death row.

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The 24 states which have the death penalty in place are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

The 23 states to have abolished the death penalty are: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The three states which have a moratorium on the death penalty are: California, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

Method of execution All states with the death penalty for murder provide lethal injection as the primary method of execution.

Some states allow other methods than lethal injection, but only as secondary methods to be used merely at the request of the prisoner, or if lethal injection is unavailable due to an inability to procure the necessary drugs or due to court challenges to lethal injection's constitutionality.

Several states continue to use the historical three-drug protocol: firstly an anesthetic, secondly pancuronium bromide, a paralytic, and finally potassium chloride to stop the heart.

Eight states have used a single-drug protocol, inflicting only an overdose of a single anesthetic to the prisoner.

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